Orange Is the New Plaque
"Orange Is the New Plaque" is the 9th episode of Devious Butlers. Summary Josh continues to rot in jail, while Joanna remains disgusted in herself for having put him there - not that she has much time to dwell on it, for she's currently busy enjoying her new butler in ways that would make even Rapey Randy blush. When her guilt coincides with Josh's newfound desperateness, however, the latter could find himself in luck. From one affair to another as Justine takes a leaf out of Joe's book and turns full-on detective in order to uncover a secret lover of Liz's, entirely unaware that the man she's looking for is the one she's employed as her sidekick. Meanwhile, Ben has determined that Ali's necklace is the key, while Ali herself is put through the emotional ringer when her husband discovers that she's made a friend down below. Plot 'Teaser' Jorgio Del Barrio stands at the front steps of his home, apparently waiting for the arrival of a guest. Ali stands to his side, fear-stricken. "You know we don't have to keep doing this," she tells him, but he tells her to shut up. "My dear Alison, wives are supposed to support their husbands, so why would you ask of me to give up my one true passion." This sends a chill down Mrs. Del Barrio's spine as the camera focuses on a light smirk Jorgio wears, as the camera pans around the back of his head... Cut to years before where Jorgio... finishes having his way with the first woman he ever violated. As she lies unconscious on the bed next to him, there's a half drunken glass of alcohol; she's been drugged. While this was all fun for Mr. Del Barrio to begin with, he now realizes that there's little to no chance of this woman keeping quiet when she wakes up; he has to do something. Cut to Jorgio meeting in an abandoned parking lot where he meets up with two men driving a large white van. Mr. Del Barrio brings them to his own car where he opens up the trunk to reveal the unconscious woman he had raped. One of the men takes out a wad of cash and hands it to Jorgio, as the other takes the woman from the trunk and puts her into the van. Meanwhile, Mr. Del Barrio is awe at how much money he has made from the awful crime he has just committed. Jorgio returns home and starts to do research on human trafficking; he studies the profits that people tend to make, their ways of going about getting the people to buy, kidnap, sell, trade, etc. He looks up from his computer, inside his apartment, with the most devious of grins across the face. Jorgio Del Barrio has found his true calling... We return to the present day where the Del Barrios continue to wait until finally a nice car parks in their driveway. Jorgio's guest has arrived, a friend, Andrew Von Trump. "Jorgio!" "Andrew!" The two men shake hands and hug, noting that it's been quite a while since they've last spoken. "Indeed it has," Jorgio exclaims, to which Andrew wonders how the "Mrs." is doing, at which point they both laugh, as that is just totally irrelevant. Jorgio motions for Ali to open the door to welcome he and Andrew inside, and Andrew does not hesitate to feel up his friend's wife some before following behind him. Once inside, Ali asks if she could get the two men anything, as Ben is out right now, but Jorgio states that that won't be necessary. "We have business to tend to." Ali nods, disappointed, as she knows what this means, but still she silently follows her husband and his friend through the Del Barrio mansion, down to the basement and past the wine cellar, finally to the hidden door. Ali uses her necklace to unlock the hidden door, and Andrew is clearly impressed with Jorgio's set up. The three of them proceed into the hidden room where Jorgio presents to Andrew the shackled women he keeps as prisoners. They sit on the floor in silence, staring up at the Del Barrios and Andrew, the latter of which admires the women. "Quite a nice variety you've got here," he exclaims. "Nice mix of race and even hair color." "I do recall you like redheads?" Jorgio exclaims, at which Andrew nods. "As luck would have it, my latest addition fits the category," Mr. Del Barrio reveals, turning to a silently pissed-off Jennifer. "Get up," he demands, only to go ignored. Rolling his eyes, Jorgio bends down and forcefully grabs Jennifer to her feet, managing to control her from fighting back with a pair of extra handcuffs all the whores were forced into before Andrew's visit. "Back off, laddy!" Jennifer barks, "When I get me self outta this, I won't hesitate to make haggis out of you!" "She's got spunk; I like that," Andrew exclaims, at which Jorgio admits, "I had my eye on this one redhead across the street. Really sexy. Then I found out she was married to some famous black actor. I figured I better just not..." Andrew nods, understanding, whereas Ali is in shock that Jorgio was targeting Liz at one point. Mr. Del Barrio holds Jennifer still, putting her in a vulnerable position to where she has no control over what's coming at her. "Come on, Andrew," he exclaims, "feel her up some; tell me what you think." Andrew examines Jennifer for a moment, feeling up her body, even her face, despite her trying to bite him. He stands back and thinks, examining her from head to toe, and then he re-approaches her and simply rips open her top. "Aye, cut it out!" she demands, as Andrew starts feeling her up. Ali looks away, in disgust, but Jorgio demands his wife turn back. "Maybe this will teach you to be more grateful for how easy you have it," he says to her, as Andrew continues examining Jennifer. "Andrew!" Ali exclaims, wanting him to stop, and both he and Jorgio turn to her in shock. Shivering, she explains that they just got a new champagne in the wine cellar, and that he should go and try it, to relax, before he continues with his excavation of the ladies. "Right," Andrew nods, "great." And then he heads out of the room, letting Jennifer go. Jorgio stares at his wife, appearing angry, and she just shrugs and says, "What? I want your friend to have it as easy as I do." Jorgio is speechless, and then his wife adds, "That said, I could really use a drink too." She and Jennifer exchange a subtle smile before she too leaves the room, and Jorgio appears less than pleased with his wife's sass. DEVIOUS BUTLERS 'Act I' Joanna is busy brushing her teeth in her bedroom ensuite following a hearty shower with Joe, who is currently waiting in the bedroom with a towel around his waist. "You should probably put some clothes on," Joanna says once the toothpaste is spat out, "or else I'm gonna be too horny to start my day, and it's already like noon." She then washes her mouth out using a bottle of wine she keeps hidden in the medicine cabinet, gargling with it and spitting it out in the sink, before putting the bottle back. "So it is," Joe realizes, looking out the window, "I guess that means it's time for my lunch break. I could spend it with you?" He prepares to drop the towel as she re-enters the bedroom, but she warns him not to because she actually has some important business to tend to today, regarding her husband's remains. The atmosphere turns from playful to awkward and, as Joe begins digging through his pile of clothes to find his underwear, he agrees that it's probably for the best; "I mean, last night was fun and all - really fun; like, I don't think I've ever had more fun -" "I know, I was there," Joanna smiles. "I mean I don't think I've ever been with a woman who could—" "Yeah I'm very bendy," Mrs. Winters assures, heading to her bureau to find an outfit of her own, "as are you." "But," Joe continues, "we don't wanna over-complicate things, right? I mean, you're my boss, I'm your employee… it's best we just leave it at what it was and that's it." Joanna turns to him at this, saying that she thought he had fun, and he assures that he did; "It's just… I took advantage of you in a time of grief, and that was wrong of me. We shouldn't do anything else until we figure out what we… what we are to each other." "Christ, you're sounding gayer than Matthew," Joanna mutters under her breath, and then, "Fine. What we are to each other is two people enjoying each other's company with the added bonus of orgasms. Trust me, I took just as much advantage out of you last night as you did from me. So we're good, okay?" "Okay," Joe nods, "if you're sure." "Now," Joanna says, changing the subject, "if you wanna go take care of that wine stain downstairs, that'd be great." "I can't," Joe reminds her, "it's my lunch break, remember?" And, finally, he sees his cell phone on the floor, picking it up and seeing that he has multiple texts from Ben, telling him that he's found the basement key and to meet him at the café when he's on break. Joe texts back, "OK. Be there in a sec." However, Joanna stops in the middle of getting dressed and turns to Joe, deciding, "You know… I might have just enough time for one quickie before I have to go." Joe smiles at this, sending another text to Ben which reads, "Maybe longer.", and then he slides his recently-applied underwear back down his legs and Joanna grins before pouncing, the two of them then landing, impassioned, on the heavily unmade bed. Over at the café, Ben appears to be getting somewhat impatient waiting for Joe, sighing and checking his phone. He soon gets face-timed by Justine, who is over at the Davis house and says that she just wanted to check in. "How doing is you, Benjamin?" she asks, and Ben assures that he is doing just fine. "Missing you," Justine says, kissing the camera of her phone, and Ben tells her that he's missing her as well. "Is you?" Justine wonders. "Of course," Ben assures, but she points out that he did not reciprocate her kiss. "I'm in public, it'd look weird…" Ben points out in turn, to which she says, "Oh I see. You do not love me… enough." "I do!" Ben assures, trying to tame his voice, and Justine makes a squinted smile and says, "Then send me kisses." Looking a tad nervous, Ben leans down and kisses the camera of his phone, garnering some awkward stares from the people around him. "Too much tongue," Justine scolds from the other end, and Ben sighs. "Now," she adds, "since you did not get to see me last night, tell me all naughty things you wish to do next time in my presence you are." "Justine…" Ben utters, blushing, "I'm still in public." "I'm not," she says, another squinted smile, "now go on. Lumme." "I— I wanna…" he gets nervous and stops, due to the people still around him, but she encourages him to continue. "I wanna kiss your neck," he finally says, leading Justine to ask, "And then what?" "And then kiss down your body," he says, a little quiet, and Justine tells him to be louder. He clears his throat; "Kiss down your body and… and…" "Manger ma meow!" Justine ends up exclaiming as she envisions this in her head, and almost everyone in the café ends up turning to Ben, whose face is so red he looks like he's spilled his own hot coffee on it. Eventually, his fellow butler enters the establishment, finding his spy and taking a seat next to him, his clothes applied lazily and his hair all tousled. Ben tells Justine that he has to go, and she tells him, "Oki. Back to work I get." And then she's seen grabbing a cocktail from the Davises' counter before finally hanging up. "Where the hell have you been?" Ben asks as Joe sits down, and Joe apologizes, saying, "I couldn't sleep a wink last night, is all." "Well, whatever," Ben shrugs off, "the point is, I'm pretty sure I know where the key to the basement is kept." "Right," Joe nods, "where?" And Ben reveals: "Ali's neck." "Huh now?" Joe questions, and Ben explains that his employer is constantly clutching her necklace, as though it's the most important thing in the world, and the shape of the pendant looks like it might be able to slide into a keyhole. "Hmm," Joe considers, and Ben asks if he's done good. "You have," Joe assures, "nice detective work." Ben smiles at this. "I'm glad I could help," he says, "looking over all your notes, and this whole Jose murder thing seems intricately complicated. More than even I thought." "I know," Joe acknowledges, "I've been searching for a while now and so far I've been faced with more plot twists than a Maria Solano movie." "Well, like I said, I'm glad I could help. But now I gotta get back to work." "Um," Joe adds before Ben leaves, then saying, "there's one more thing I might need you to do for me." "You said all I had to do was locate the key," Ben recalls, "and you'd break in and do the rest." "Yeah," Joe nods, "until I found out the key was attached to a moving target. You'd have a much better chance at getting your hands on it than me." "But Joe…" "You're such a great detective!" Joe reminds him, "I feel like I'm looking at Sherlock Holmes." "I never identified with Sherlock," Ben passes, and Joe says, "Even better. You can be my Dr. Watson." Ben does like the sound of this, and he ends up exclaiming, "Ugh! Fine! I'll get you the key! But that's it!" "Thank you," Joe smiles. "Hey, what're you guys talking about?" Rena asks, having entered the café without either of them noticing. "Nothing," Ben states immediately, acting shady as all hell, "I was just… leaving." And, with that, he goes, and Rena takes his seat. "What's up with him?" he wonders, and Joe shrugs. The Portuguese butler then explains, "I know my break is over but I had to get out of that house. Justine keeps drinking and making cat noises. What do you think's up with that?" At this, Joe shrugs again, and Rena laments having to go back there eventually. At the Wikerly Federal Prison, Josh meets with his lawyer, Bradley Sonya, in the visitors' room. They each take a seat and pick up a respective wall phone, as they must face one another with the see-through glass in between them. "How ya' holdin' up?" Brad wonders, at which the butler shrugs his shoulders, sarcastically going over all the recent events that have occurred in his life, with being raped (see "Mess-Prone Housewives"), arrested for his boss' murder (see "How to Run Away with Chauffeurs"), and losing his boyfriend because of it (see "Butler Who?"). "A simple 'no' would suffice." Josh apologizes, but Brad assures him it matters not, as he has bigger news. "I've met with the judge and a bail has been set for $10,000." However, this isn't really that great of news to Josh, who exclaims that he doesn't have that kind of money to spend. "Well maybe you got a nice family member or someone willing to pitch in?" Brad wonders, but Josh shakes his head. "We're not really on that great of terms..." (see "Buffing the Damp Mire Layer") Brad apologizes, really having thought this would have come as good news. Josh assures that it's fine, but that he'd like to return to his cell now (clearly everything's not fine.) He goes to get up, but Brad begs of him to not leave. "I promise we're gonna get you out of here," he says. Josh is still unsure though, noting that so much bad is happening all at once, but the lawyer is still confident. "Do you think I'm innocent?" Josh wonders, at which Brad wonders if this matters. "I'm your lawyer, I'll fight your case no matter what." "I don't care," Josh exclaims, and again he asks, "Do you think I'm innocent?" Brad contemplates this for a moment, but finally forms his answer, that being, "Yes, I do." Josh nods at this, and without saying a word he hangs up the phone and leaves to go back to his cell. Brad sighs. Over at the Davis house, Rena is seen polishing the displayed awards when he finds himself being approached by Justine. "Pig!" she exclaims, finally drunk enough from her morning cocktails to bring herself to have this conversation, "What this is?!" she wonders, revealing a whip she has found in Liz's BDSM closet. Rena's eyes widen at the sight as he wonders where Justine found that. "It in house dungeon! Mrs. Liz has sex dungeon in hall closet!" Rena doesn't quite know what to say, as he is still unaware of how much Justine has been clued in on what has been going on in the Davis house. "Justine, I don't really know what to tell you," the butler lies, "Maybe Liz and Eli just have a penchant for bondage?" "No!" Justine spits, "This is just kinky and I shame for it! And I know Mr. Eli would never as he is good, right man." Rena wonders what it is Justine is trying to say, both semantically and literally, and the maid admits to believing Liz is having an affair. In that moment, Rena has a sort of revelation, as it never quite clicked in his brain that what he's doing with his employer could be seen as adultery. Still, he tries his best not to panic, as it seems the French maid doesn't know yet that it's with him. "Well what do you wanna do about it?" he finally asks, then pointing out that, at the same time, it's really none of their business and that maybe they should just let Liz go about her life as she pleases. "No! That not fair of Mr. Eli who is good good man! I'm gonna expose chienne for slut cheater she is!" Rena starts to grow nervous, wondering if Justine is really sure about this, but she nods her head. "Oui," she says, "and you're going to be the help of me." Rena gulps, realizing the maid means business. Ali can be seen in the kitchen, preparing the silver tray to take to the girl's downstairs; she even slips a small chocolate under the plate for Jennifer, which she smiles about. However, when she lifts it from the counter and goes to exit the room, she is startled by the sudden appearance of Jorgio, as per usual. "You need to stop doing that." "And you need to not talk to me like that," he responds. "You're the one who wanted me to be assertive," she reminds, but he states, "Not to me. You've been cocky of late, and I don't like it." "I'm sorry about that," Ali says, trying to go past him, but Jorgio stops her. "You haven't made the mistake of making any friends down there, have you?" he asks. "Friends?" "Because you know that would be foolish," he assures, "and I'd be remiss to learn if they're what's causing a change in your attitude." "Look, I just wanna feed the—" "I'll feed them tonight, how about that?" Jorgio suggests, snatching the tray from her, "and you can stay up here and think of a better way to talk to me, because I think, tonight, we shall be making love. Whether you'll be conscious or not during the experience has yet to be determined." Ali shakes a little, and Jorgio goes to leave; however, then he turns around and remembers something. After promptly snatching her necklace from around her neck, he proceeds to the basement. Ben watches Jorgio go by as he mops the floors, noticing the necklace resting on the tray. Jorgio doesn't like his butler being so nosy though, and so he orders him to finish scrubbing the halls with nothing but a toothbrush. On his way down to the basement, Jorgio notices that the plate is askew and discovers the chocolate beneath it. He scoffs, and then takes it for himself and eats it, spitting it on the floor when he determines that it's gross and making a mental note to have Ben brush that up later. Finally, he is at the basement door and unlocks it. "Goldilocks," Jennifer utters expectantly, somewhat excited, but she is disappointed by what she's greeted with. Jorgio, walking into the room and tipping the contents of the tray out onto the floor, then announcing, "Enjoy ladies!" He then goes to leave; however, before he does, his eye is caught by something: one of the girls is resting against the wall… with a pillow between her head and the concrete. It seems Jennifer's pillow got passed around some, and Jorgio misinterprets this, staring at the unsuspecting whore and stating, "So you're the one." He then advances. 'Act II' It's nighttime, and Joe, having once again eradicated the wine stain from the carpet, can be seen pouring two glasses of the same wine at the Winters' mansion: one for himself, and one for his employer. When, finally, the latter arrives home, still dressed all in black as the grieving widow routine continues, she indeed looks in the mood for a glass of wine, and is happy to find one waiting for her upon her entrance to her home. "Thank God," she exclaims, taking the glass and gulping down every last drop. Joe goes to drink his own, only for Joanna to snatch it from him and gulp that too, then exhaling heavily as she slams the two glasses down on the end table. "I really needed those," she makes clear. "Why?" Joe wonders, "What's wrong?" "'What's wrong?'" Joanna repeats, "I'll tell you what's wrong! I just spent the whole damn day at the freakin' crematorium - most depressing place on Earth, by the way - searching for my late husband's ashes because, lo and behold, they lost them!" "What?" Joe reacts, shocked, and Joanna hisses, "That's right. My husband is missing. God, I should sue their asses! Oh and this is after they gave me grief about not wanting to cremate him without all his body parts present. As though it's my fault Josh hid them so well!" "Yeah it ain't easy when you move into someone else's room and find a toe under your pillow," Joe recalls, shivering a little, and Joanna demands to know why her glasses haven't been refilled yet. "Sorry," Joe says, rushing to re-pour the wine, and Joanna takes the first available glass and sits down with it on the sofa, emanating a huge amount of stress. "It'll be okay," Joe assures, patting her back, and Joanna tells him, "That's nice. Do you do massages?" "Sure," Joe offers, getting behind her and starting to dig into his employer's back with his hands. The noises she fires off signify that she's enjoying it, and soon enough she finds herself turning around and kissing Joe. "Oh…" he mutters, "I wasn't gonna… tonight, it's just… I thought we could talk properly, and…" "This again?" Joanna questions, "God, you're such a girl, just accept the sex!" "I just can't shake the feeling now that you're—" He stops talking suddenly because Joanna has removed her blouse. "...that you're—" And now she's unfastened her bra, which today is a frontsie, and we see from behind as she pulls it wide open. "—so damn hot," is all Joe is able to say, and then she grabs his head from behind and his face is redirected firmly into her cleavage. Morning comes, much like Joe and Joanna during the night, and Ali finds herself peacefully waking up in a bed that doesn't seem to have Jorgio in it, to her joy. As she removes her sleeping mask, however, she sees… a woman, standing in her bedroom. Startled, she finds herself fully waking up as she makes it to her feet, confused as to who this woman is; and then she notices her husband standing right next to her. "Jorgio?" she questions, "What's going on?" "What?" Jorgio questions in turn, "You don't recognize your little friend?" It's then that Ali realizes who this woman is: she's one of the girls from down in the basement, whom she brings food to everyday. The last one to be using the pillow, which Jorgio now holds in his hands. "My what?" Ali asks in response to Jorgio, but he demands that she not play dumb with him. "Jorgio, what are you—" Suddenly, Jorgio pushes the prostitute against the wall and presses the pillow against her face. She screams, but it's muffled, and Ali raises her hands to her mouth in horror as she watches one of the innocent girls get suffocated. "Stop it!" she begs, "Please stop it!" "You promise you won't bring her any more gifts?" Jorgio wonders calmly, keeping the pillow pressed on the girl's face. "I promise!" Ali weeps, "Let her go!" And Jorgio does, and the prostitute takes a deep breath as life returns to her lungs, and both she and Ali are heavily relieved. "Make no mistake, the only reason your little bestie here is still alive is because I don't want to have to go to the effort of disposing of a body. But if you ever pull a stunt like this again, you will be waking up with her head in your bed! Got it?!" "Got it," Ali nods, tearfully. "Now," her husband announces, "I'll take this slut back downstairs, while you get ready to go out. I'd like to spend the day at the club today and clearly I need to keep you close by." "Okay," Ali breathes, and Jorgio begs her to try and look nice; "I'll bring you back your necklace when I'm done locking her away. I like when you wear it. You look so pretty with a symbol of captivity encasing your little throat. Here's hoping I don't have to do that myself anytime soon." Finally, Ali just nods, relieved once more when Jorgio finally exits the bedroom, whore in tow. In the yard of the Wikerly Federal Prison, Josh is seen roaming around, still having yet to receive his job assignments. As he watches the other prisoners go about their days, he finds himself being approached by Tyson. "Josh," he exclaims, making the imprisoned butler aware of his presence, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I was with you the other day. I was just upset and I let my anger get the best of me, yunno." Josh assures Tyson that there are no hard feelings, and so the down's syndrome walks away. Josh looks around now, still rather bored; his little encounter with Tyson has not brought much activity to his day, but this begins to change when he finds himself being approached once again, this time by Rapey Randy. "Gibbons," he exclaims, followed by his three friends, "I've been doing a lot of thinking about you lately," he says. Josh is confused by this at first, and so Randy clarifies that when Josh told him he was a prisoner before and already had his required encounter with Randy, he still couldn't shake the fact that there was something unfamiliar about the former butler. "Oh?" Josh questions. "Yeah, and so I went to a guard about my suspicions and he did a little digging for me." Josh realizes where this conversation is heading, as Randy formally confronts the butler for having lied. "You've never been a prisoner here before." Josh doesn't know what to say, as he can tell Randy is starting to get angry. He takes a moment to consider all of his options, as Randy asks if the butler has anything to say for himself; he and his friends corner him more. Finally, Josh comes up with a solution; he lets out a deep breath and gets on his knees, proceeding to pull down Randy's bright orange pants a bit and get to work. Ali is sat at her dressing table, wiping away her tears before applying foundation to her face. Her door is open a crack, and outside, Ben is busy scrubbing the hallway floors with a toothbrush, per Jorgio's demand. However, he then notices his very sullen employer and decides to stand up and ask her if she's okay. She is a little jumpy at him entering her bedroom but, once she realizes who it is, she settles down and heads for her eye makeup. "I'm fine," she assures him. "You don't look fine," Ben points out, "tell me what's wrong." Ali sighs, assuring, "It's nothing, really. Just… Jorgio. But that's nothing new." Suddenly, Ben notices her necklace just sitting there on the dressing table, waiting to be put on, with Jorgio apparently having brought it back after locking that random girl back in the basement. Ali looks to him, wondering why he's not speaking, and Ben finds himself asking, "Do you need any help getting ready? Like, with your hair or your… jewelry maybe?" "Um, sure," Ali replies, "could you fetch my hairspray?" "Done," Ben tells her, moving to the far side of the dressing table to collect it and, as he does so, he subtly knocks the necklace onto the floor with his hand. As he passes her the hairspray can, she thanks him; however, as she starts applying it, she immediately notices that the necklace has gone missing from where it was, and she exclaims, "WHERE IS MY NECKLACE?!" Ben is a little taken aback by her screaming, for he's not seen Ali properly angry before, and he tells her, "Gee, I don't know. But I can look for it if you like, while you're gone." "No," Ali says, "I need it right now!" She begins looking around and finally discovers it on the floor, taking a deep sigh of relief as she picks it up and places it around her neck, fastening it at the back. "Are you sure you wanna wear that?" Ben wonders, taking some random blue necklace from her jewelry box and pointing out that it matches her outfit much better. With that, he tries to unfasten the key from Ali's neck, causing her to turn around and grab his wrist. He is able to shake her off fairly easily, for she isn't particularly strong, but she does look mad. "Touch this again and you're fired." "Ali…" Ben utters. "I'm assertive, remember?" she says, "Now get out of my bedroom." "Please, I—" "GET OUT!" she screams, and Ben finds himself doing as she says. Once the door is closed, Ali stares at herself in the mirror and tries her very best to keep herself from crying. "Please don't learn the truth, Ben," she whispers sadly, "I can't lose you too." She clutches the necklace and takes a deep breath. "Pig!" Justine calls, making her way into the master bedroom of the Davis house, "We snoop Mrs. Liz stuff now." Rena begrudgingly joins Justine in the bedroom where the maid instructs that he start looking around. "No thing is off the limits. We search every small spot!" As Justine starts lifting up the mattress, Rena heads for Liz's bureau where he starts to go through some of her drawers. Justine turns back as she nearly has the mattress pushed off of the bed and sees that Rena is coming across Liz's underwear drawer, which she quickly goes and shoves the butler away from. "Except there!" she barks, "That is female persons only, no pigs!" Rena backs away, rather awkwardly to let Justine search through it instead. He, meanwhile, feels up the mattress, pretending to help, and Justine starts making her way to the closet. "Maybe Mrs. Liz keep clue in there," she says, opening the door. "Pig, join," she demands, as Rena makes his way over to the closet. Justine has begun searching through miscellaneous drawers of extra chests Liz has stored; the maid slips some of her boss' jewelry into her pocket, and Rena just doesn't care enough to say anything. Justine then looks up, seeing there's a high shelf out of her reach. She tries to jump, but fails to see what is up there. "Pig, on floor!" she demands, at which Rena raises an eyebrow. The maid explains that she wants to stand on his back to see what's on the shelf. Rena shakes his head, refusing, but Justine, out of the blue, just starts hitting the butler. "I say get on floor, Pig!" she demands once more, and finally Rena gives in and gets on his hands and knees, allowing Justine to get on his back. She doesn't even have the decency to take off her shoes before doing so. While Rena aches with pain, he is also surprised by the feeling of a pleasurable sensation. Justine, meanwhile, looks around the shelf, and finally something in particular catches out her attention. "Pig I find something," she says, grabbing a book in the far back. She gets down off of Rena's back when doing so, and the butler stands up, looking at what the maid possesses. The two examine the book, flipping it open where they find a note sticking inside. It reads: Rena and Justine turn to one another, the latter exclaiming, in shock, "I think Mrs. Liz did screwing of Mr. Del Barrio from across street." Rena takes the note from the maid, looking over it again; he shakes his head, stating his disbelief of this. Justine though, she's rather certain. "We must talk Mr. Eli of this as he will, how you say, kick Mr. Del Barrio's asshole." "Justine--" Rena tries, but the maid won't listen. She takes the note back from Rena as she starts to exit the bedroom. "We expose Mrs. Liz for her badness. Cheating bitch is to pay for the wrongness of her doings." Rena doesn't like the sound of this. 'Act III' The Del Barrios can be seen returning home from a day spent at the club, with Jorgio mentioning to his wife that her makeup ran a little when the air conditioning in the dining hall briefly malfunctioned, and that she should work on that. Ali frowns at this, not really feeling in the mood to deal with her husband's abrasiveness after having just spent a whole day with it in public, and then the rich couple discover Ben mopping the floors of their entrance hall. "Good evening," he greets as cheerily as he can, and Jorgio asks, "Is it?" "Yes?" Ben replies, confused, and Jorgio recalls telling his butler to scrub the hallways with a toothbrush, assuming that he never got that done. "Well it seemed a little ridiculous to—" "Oh, now I'm ridiculous?" Jorgio questions. "No, I'm not saying that, I'm just—" "And now you're telling me what I'm saying is wrong, and implying that my intelligence is so little that I can't correctly interpret what ''you're saying? I can assure, Ben, that while your Haggis-y drivel may be a little uneasy on the ears, I hear you loud and clear, but I need for you to do the same and listen to me when I order you to do something in my home!" Ben just stands there and takes the abuse, and Ali watches as her husband continues to yell, seeing the vein in his neck bursting out and his face turning red as he descends rather randomly and unnecessarily into a rant that she's not even sure he thinks is in any way important. But still he hurls abuse, because that's what he does; Ali is so used to it that it doesn't even sound like words to her anymore, and from her POV all we hear is slo-mo whining while Ben continues to look on, nodding and bowing his head slightly as though subdued. And, right as Jorgio is in the middle of shouting, "Do you understand how replaceable you are?!", Ali does what she never thought she'd ever be able to do, and she shouts in turn: "Jorgio, why don't you just shut the hell up?!" Jorgio stops dead in the middle of his rage, turning to his wife in shock. Ben too appears apprehensive as to what might happen next, watching in fear as Mr. Del Barrio gets all up in Ali's face, breathing heavily. She's not backing down though, acting braver than she has in a long while, and then he finally spits, "I guess my little message this morning didn't come through so loud either. Perhaps I need to reinforce it." And with that, he storms off, up one of his home's many staircases. Eventually, Ali hears a door slam as Jorgio disappears on the other side of it, and she lets out a sigh of deep relief. "OhthankJesusChristinheavenIthoughtIwasgonnadie," she unleashes in one massive breath, and Ben just comments from nearby, still holding his mop, "Wow. That was intense." "You're telling me," Ali replies, still trying to calm herself down, and Ben assures her that it's okay, finally letting his mop drop to the ground so that he may swoop in and hug his employer. Once she's sufficiently comforted, they break apart, though he can't seem to take his eyes off her chest. "Um, Ben, I don't like you in that way," Ali assures. "Oh, no," Ben promises, "it's just… your necklace, I…" "I thought I told you not to touch it," Ali recalls, her previous panic being replaced with some of the fire she exhibited earlier. "Ali, I wanna help," he goes on, "I know about the basement." "No…" Ali utters, "no, you can't!" "Well I do," he assures, "and I wanna help you. Me and Joe. He's been trying to figure everything out since he arrived." Ali smiles at this, saying she knew she sensed something special about him, not that it matters now. "But it does matter," Ben assures, "Joe needs to know the truth about Jose." "Jose?" Ali questions. "Yes," Ben nods, "so he needs to know exactly what's going on down there. Can you tell me?" At this, Ali clutches her necklace hard, saying, "It's better that I show you. And Joe. Tonight, when Jorgio is asleep. I'll… I'll take you both down there." "Thank you," Ben rejoices with a smile on his face, "thank you!" "You really think Joe can help?" Ali questions, and Ben tells her, "I really do." Mrs. Del Barrio also feels like rejoicing in this moment. Justine has a little black book out on the kitchen counter and Rena enters the room and asks her what she's doing. She explains that she's going through Mrs. Liz's address book, wanting to find Mr. Del Barrio's phone number, and Rena is shocked by this - shocked that she'd actually go through with exposing the "affair". "Why are you doing that?" he wonders. "I know, I know," Justine replies, "it stupid to go through address book when boyfriend works at house, but like, this feels more like detective, you know? Also, I am of the noses." "You're nosy?" Rena questions, and Justine nods before exclaiming, "Aha!" and discovering Jorgio's phone number. She takes out her cell phone and begins to dial, stating that that chienne is finally going to get what's coming to her, but Rena says that she probably doesn't want to do that. Justine sighs and stops dialling, turning to Rena and wondering why, and he points out that she'll only be hurting Mr. Eli if she exposes the truth. "Mr. Eli needs to hear truth; he can heal after," Justine decides, punching in the next digit, but Rena again exclaims, "No!" and she sighs again. "What about Mrs. Del Barrio? She doesn't deserve to have her marriage wrecked," he tries. "Meh," Justine shrugs, "I don't like skinny blonde being around Benjamin all day and night. If she leaves the house, it won't be worst thing por moi." "Justine…" "Haha!" Justine exclaims, "Finally I can watch that ginger hussy toss out on street and she will be the one on knees for once like I do when I clean for her and I can look into her un-famous eyes and I can be all like, 'in your ass, bitch!'" At this, Rena just looks confused. "What now?" "You know," Justine insists, "like what American urban youths be say." "You mean in your face?" Rena wonders, and Justine's face goes slack; she then utters, "Oh," as though she's rethinking all her life choices, but promptly continues dialling. "You have to stop!" Rena exclaims again, and Justine finally just barks, "WHY?!" "BECAUSE JORGIO ISN'T HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH LIZ; I AM!" There is a horrible air of shock as this revelation washes over Justine, and then the butler meekly adds, "...kinda." The French maid drops her phone and the address book, currently unsure of what to do. And then she raises her eyebrow deviously. Down the street, Joe is busy dusting off Joanna's non-hidden wine bottles, displayed in a proud cabinet, with a feather duster, and Joanna enters the room and requests that he dust a lower shelf; "The angle you're at really doesn't do your cute little tooshie justice," she smiles, sipping on some other wine, because that's what she does. Joe doesn't move, merely continuing to clean, and Joanna raises an eyebrow at this, approaching and saying that she just gave him a direct order. And then she places her hand on said tooshie, making Joe jump, and she adds, "Obey it." "Okay," he says finally, turning around to her, "we've had our fun, but now it really is time to talk." Joanna sighs, and Joe explains, "I need to understand you, if I'm gonna sleep with you." "What do you mean?" she wonders, and he reminds her, "I'm a detective, remember? And I can tell now that… there's more to your sadness than just grief for your husband. In fact, I'm not sure I detect any grief. You need cheering up alright, but… that's not the reason." "Excuse me?" is all Joanna can think to say and, softly, warmly, Joe requests that she tell him what that reason is. There are traces of tears in Joanna's eyes, and she assures him, "I'm in mourning." "Are you?" Joe questions, and Joanna goes on to say, "… for a friendship, that's recently sunk. Obviously I'm like super upset about my dead husband or whatever too, but… I did something bad. And I'm not sure this friend of mine… can ever find a way to forgive me. If you wanna know the truth, I thought that sex with you could fill the hole that they left." "In the literal sense," Joe nods, and Joanna adds, "Indeed. That's only why I seduced you the first time though. The other times, because… having you around… makes my life suck just a little bit less." "Yeah," Joe says, similar traces of tears being in his own eyes, "my life sucks a little less with you in it too." Joanna smiles, and asks if they can have sex now, and Joe tells her that they could; "Or we could talk a little more about this friend of yours. Because I sense that's what you really need. And if you really wanna make it right with them after whatever it is you think you may have done… then, well, you're a smart woman. I'm sure you're already aware of a way how." Joanna thinks for a moment, and then smiles, revealing, "Yeah, I am." Joe smiles too, and then she tells him, "Thank you." Return to the Wikerly Federal Prison as Josh and Brad take their seats and answer their respective phones. "Are things going any better?" Brad wonders, as Josh scrapes away some white crustiness from his lips. "Not exactly," the butler answers. "Well, I've got good news," Brad says, reaching into his bag and pulling out a stack of papers, "you're getting out of here." Josh asks the lawyer to repeat himself, which he does, adding that an anonymous source mailed in a check to pay all of the butler's legal fees. "Even I'm covered." "And you have no idea who this could be?!" Josh wonders, at which Brad shakes his head. He does, however, have more to say. As he reaches through the papers he pulls out one with residential details. "Since Joanna most likely doesn't want you back, I managed to find you a job elsewhere. There's this new family who moved to town, the Littles, who were in need of a butler ASAP. I presented them with your résumé and they didn't bother with any further investigations, yunno, like you being arrested for murder." Josh doesn't know what to say, as all this news is hitting him at once; he is extremely grateful, though. "Thank you," he finally manages to spit out, "thank you so much." Brad assures him that it was no problem at all, and that Josh will be let out in the morning. "I can come pick you up then and take you to the Littles; luckily for you, you're gonna be a live-in." Josh nods, ever so grateful, and Brad gathers his papers back together to put away. The butler and the lawyer nod as the former returns to his cell and the latter goes to leave the prison. As Brad goes through the doors exiting to the visitors' room, and down the hall and out of the prison, he stops outside where he looks around before taking out his phone and putting in a call. After waiting a few moments, there's an answer on the other line. "I just told him the good news," Brad says to the person on the other line." It's then revealed that Brad is talking to none other than Joanna Winters, who is currently filling out the checks for bailing Josh out of jail and Brad's legal fees. "And you didn't tell him it was me?" she questions, at which Brad confirms that Josh doesn't have a clue. Joanna nods, thanking him for keeping quiet, but as she wishes to hang up the call, Brad stops her. "Why did you all of a sudden have a change of heart?" he wonders. Joanna takes a moment to think about an explanation, and finally she states that perhaps she was quick to judge. "There was severed body parts all over his bedroom; having had more time to think, I'd like to believe he wasn't stupid enough to just leave everything right there for the police to find." "So you think he's innocent?" Brad questions, at which Joanna lies, stating that she's not entirely sure, but that she'd like to give Josh a chance to prove himself. Brad nods, "Well, thank you Mrs. Winters. That'll be all now." Jo nods, and the two of them proceed to hang up the phone. Ali watches the clock next to her bed and then turns to Jorgio, who is snoring soundly. She proceeds to sneak out of bed, slowly and quietly exiting her bedroom in order to go and meet Ben down in the entrance hall of the mansion. He is at first startled by her presence, but then notes that it's time to summon Joe. Joanna moans while lying back in her own bed, the figure of Joe's head bobbing up and down under the sheets, but then he grows distracted by his phone buzzing nearby, with him having turned the ringer way up since a few nights back, and he emerges in order to answer it. "Um, excuse me, I think you were busy?" Joanna reminds him, but Joe reads a text from Ben which says, "You need to get here. NOW." "I'm sorry," Joe tells his boss, "something's come up." "I'll say," Joanna comments, noticing the figure of another something beneath the sheets, and Joe sadly comments, "Yeah, that's gonna go to waste it seems." Joanna lets out a sigh, but then assures him it's fine, for she should probably get in contact with her accountant to see if the monetary transaction she just performed went through successfully. "I put a load of laundry in the drier before we came up here. You could go sit on it until I get back?" Joe suggests. "You're the best," Joanna smiles, grabbing her own cell phone before heading downstairs, while Joe gets out of bed and goes on another hunt for clothes. Joe is next seen approaching the Del Barrio mansion, where Ben slowly opens up the front door and greets him. "Did you get my other text about why you needed to come?" the butlers wonders, and Joe explains that he read it on the way. "Great," Ali whispers, "let's get going then." She clutches her necklace and proceeds to lead them through the house, down the multitude of spiralling staircases and eventually to the cold underground hallways of the basement. They go past the wine cellar, turn a corner, and arrive at the brick-painted door. Joe clicks on the light, which Ali thanks him for, then proceeding to remove her necklace and slide the pendant into the keyhole. She gives it a turn, and the mechanism within the door is heard unfurling as the whole thing unlocks, and then… "Do you wanna do the honors?" Ali asks, turning to the two butlers, and Joe assures a very nervous-looking Ben that, "I'll do it." Ali takes a step back while Joe steps forward, gently pushing the door open with his hand to reveal… nothing. "No…" Ali utters, completely flabbergasted. The room on the other side is completely empty, save for a few bolts on the walls where the chains used to be attached, but not a whore or a shackle in sight. They're all just… gone. Unanswered Questions *''Who murdered Jose Sanchez?'' *Why was Jorgio threatening Jose, and vice versa? *Why was Joe abandoned as a baby? *Who did Justine's heart belong to and how did he betray her? *What exactly did Matthew learn about Joanna ("Emilie") that Jose wanted to use as blackmail? *What did Joanna mean when she said that Jose had been "taken care of"? *What was the conversation Liz heard on the night of the murder about? Who was speaking? *'What happened to the women in the basement?' Category:Season 1 Episodes